On this fine Friday afternoon, I’ve been transported back to wonderful 1996. You might ask, “What was going on way back then?” Well, for starters, Nickelodeon was still really good, and SNICK was an unmissable weekend ritual. Dunk-a-Roos were a staple in my school lunch box, as were Shark Bites, Gushers and Capri Sun. I had three recesses a day, though that third one was always way too short, and birthday parties were either at Discovery Zone or somewhere that featured laser tag (Q-ZAR was big in my town).

Oh, and the original Crash Bandicoot came out, a game that rocked my little world.

But let’s go back even further. After renting Sony’s debut gaming console from our local Super Duper Video, I got my first PlayStation for Christmas in 1995, along with Battle Arena Toshinden, Mortal Kombat 3, and with holiday money from generous relatives, an $80 copy of Primal Rage from Best Buy (which incidentally came with a $4-off coupon for Six Flags Theme Parks admission—what a deal). What can I say—I loved my fighting games, and I was in 32-bit, one-on-one heaven.

Over the following year, the PlayStation gradually came more and more into its own, though with Super Mario 64 looming on the horizon, I remember getting worried that my console of choice wouldn’t experience the 3D platformer revolution. Luckily, Naughty Dog came swooping in with its wacky orange marsupial, a tornado of spinning Wumpa Fruit and smashed crates. While Crash Bandicoot wasn’t the free-roaming groundbreaker that Nintendo’s Ultra 64 launch masterpiece turned out to be, it showed what was possible on Sony’s machine while delivering a ton of jungle-jumping fun.

The third Crash game has some unique levels, like this plane stage.Credit: Activision

And here we are, over 20 years later, with Vicarious Visions and Activision making good on last E3’s promise to revive not only the seminal PlayStation classic, but also its two excellent sequels, Cortex Strikes Back and Warped. I received my review copy in the mail today, and after playing it for a few hours, I can’t even begin to express the childhood joy I’ve been experiencing. The intro music alone was enough to send me into nostalgia seizures, and the same can be said of other small details that the developers have carried over from the originals, including old-school sound effects and even the familiar quadrant pause screen.

It’s almost too much to bear, but the throwback-a-thon has made me long for one major omission: CTR. Or for the uninformed, 1999’s Crash Team Racing.

And I’m not talking about that weak Crash Nitro Kart offshoot. I want the genuine deal, the last official Crash Bandicoot game that Naughty Dog worked on. Because to this day, I still consider it my favorite kart racer of all time. The levels were imaginative, colorful and filled with interesting set pieces, routes and shortcuts. The drifting was superb. The single player, Diddy Kong Racing-esque adventure mode was a blast. And the multiplayer was second to none. Trust me when I say that I probably spent hundreds of hours racing family members and friends in that glorious 4-player split-screen mode, an option that had no business running as smoothly as it did on the then-aging PlayStation.

Looks at the real-time shadows on that bandicoot!Credit: Activision

I know Vicarious Visions and Activision never mentioned any allusions of bundling CTR with its siblings, of making the trilogy into an all-inclusive quartet. But I can’t help feeling that this may have been a missed opportunity. Though honestly, I wouldn’t doubt if the idea came up at the planning stage for N. Sane Trilogy and maybe budget or scheduling got in the way. Is it naive to hope that if this release does well, a full remaster of Crash Team Racing, complete with split-screen and online multiplayer, may make its way to store shelves? I’m also banking on an original Spyro the Dragon trilogy revamp at some point.

Even if my dreams don’t pan out, I’m still having an obscene amount of fun with this polished remake. If you’re a fan of the bandicoot, do yourself a favor and snag a copy. And once you do, leave a comment or send me a message so we can chat about Crash like it’s 1996.